Posts Tagged ‘ Read and Weep ’

Officers arrested 16 people living on the site in connection with the production of cannabis and three others in connection with separate offences. They said a ‘small minority of individuals’ with links to the site had been involved. Right, right. And all the others? They never noticed anything? They never wondered when they’d see any of the ‘community centre’ up and running? Wondered when the three toilets would be in…

…guess we now have politicians who want to ban books by Nazis: Scottish Labour MP Thomas Docherty is calling for a national debate on whether the sale of Adolf Hitler’s “repulsive” manifesto Mein Kampf should be prohibited in the UK. /facepalm “Of course Amazon – and indeed any other bookseller – is doing nothing wrong in selling the book. However, I think that there is a compelling case for a…

People love to tell me that they often forget that I’m black. They say this with a sort of “a-ha!” look on their faces, as if their dawning ability to see my blackness was a gift to us both. When I point out that their eyesight had never left them, that my skin has never changed colors, and that they probably did not really forget that I am black, they…

It started like this: 25-year-old New Yorker Beth Breslaw was chatting to a friend about her observation that men were less likely than women to make way for other people on crowded pavements. Oh, for…! Breslaw decided that she was going to test out her friend’s theory. No longer was she going to act like a polite, decent human being who occasionally moved out of people’s way, dammit! No, she…

Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has said head teachers faced with equal candidates for a teaching post should consider “positive discrimination”. The head of the education watchdog told LBC Radio that the teaching staff of schools should reflect the ethnic diversity of their pupils. “There needs to be a fair representation,” said Sir Michael. I’m not at all sure what’s ‘fair’ about selecting someone simply because they are a particular…

Facebook has apologised after a new feature inviting users to review a collection of their 2014 highlights caused some to be confronted with pictures of their recently deceased family members and friends. The app selects from photos YOU have posted to YOUR Facebook page and neglected to remove once the subject has died. But somehow, this is all Facebook’s fault? The issue was first highlighted by Eric Meyer, a web-design…

Remember all those headlines bewailing the pressure on GPs a few days ago? GPs will be asked to identify patients who are putting on weight under a new national programme to help fight obesity. And once they are identified, what then? To the Fat Camps! Mr Stevens said targeted schemes to prevent obesity, by losing weight, had been proven to work, and now needed to be introduced nationally. And you…

Video games are one of the most vibrant cultural forms of the 21st century – but they have an image problem. *sighs* Guess who? The industry is seen as a boys’ club, a production line of games written by young men, predominantly aimed at young men. Even though independent studios are making more diverse content than ever, gaming culture is dominated by male voices. Is there nothing the joyless progressives…

For Dr John Wright, a clinical epidemiologist from Bradford working at the clinic at Moyamba, Sierra Leone, which opened on Friday, it was a slap in the face for him and his colleagues. What was? Well, would you believe, expecting him to abide by the decisions made to prevent unnecessary transmission of freakin’ Ebola?!? “It’s a return to the ecology of fear that they insisted they were going to steer…

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said the county council should stop its “endless grumbling” over free school meals. Taking a leaf out of Obama’s book, there, Nick? ‘You won’, right? The Liberal Democrat leader visited Oxford to promote the policy yesterday, and ate breakfast with children from local primary schools and Raymond Blanc at the chef’s Brasserie Blanc restaurant in Walton Street. I’m assuming that’s not their usual venue?…

…for not realising you were backward savages, and not decent human beings: Omar Al-Mukhtar, a Libyan cadet at the base but not one of those implicated in the crimes, said Libyan soldiers thought the men accused of assault had been treated badly. He told the BBC that he felt “there is no problem”. Mr Al-Mukhtar added that there had been conflict between British and Libyan soldiers at the base and…

The couple checked whether they needed a CITES permit for Becky but received a categorical assurance from the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency that they did not. But upon arriving in the UK, Becky was seized by Border Force officials who said she did need one. A CITES permit, which is inexpensive and easy to obtain, cannot be applied for retrospectively so Andrew and David have had to instruct…

They tell you. And tell you, and tell you, and tell you: As I started explaining my new dietary choice to the people in my life who had noticed I wasn’t partaking of my two favourite foods (cheese and more cheese), barely an eyebrow was raised. But when I mentioned that my two and a half-year-old son would be joining me on a vegan diet, it was a different story.…

Stop maligning stay-at-home mothers. Instead, let’s throw some cash at them. Don’t we already? Isn’t there child benefit to consider? Also unemployment benefit, should they not have a husband whose wage is keeping them?? Oh, but you want more, don’t you? You want them to have a wage… For the 2m stay-at-home parents, it might be easy to dismiss their contribution to GDP – after all, some may say, why…

Nobody should be bullied into wearing something to prove their allegiance to a country, whether it’s a bracelet or a red poppy or a saltire in face paint. She’s referring to the ribbing Miliband got for not wearing the latest craze – bracelets to show support for a cause. She has a point. And nor, arguably, should they be bullied out of wearing something. And again, I’d usually agree. This…